Vessel Response Plans (VRPs) – Conformity with International Group Guidelines & Other Recent Developments 22 June 2009 No.09-002 Members have previously been advised of the terms of contract which are required under United States Federal Regulations on vessel response plans ("VRPs") and of the contractors whose contracts conform with the International Group (IG) Guidelines on VRPs. Please refer to our previous circulars No.95-012 dated 23 January 1996 titled "OPA 90 - Vessel Response Plan (VRP) Requirements and No.97-012 dated 22 December 1997 titled "United Stets Oil Pollution - Vessel Response Plan - Contracts for Services". The list of contractors whose contracts conform to the IG Guidelines has since been amended and the number of jurisdictions that require owners to maintain VRPs has increased. The IG Guidelines are contained in the Annex to this circular. It should be noted that the Guidelines for contracts for use in the United States differ from those applicable to other jurisdictions to take account of differences in legislation. Previous advice to Members on the terms of VRP contracts has concentrated on four issues which are of importance to Members and their Clubs, namely the scope of indemnities contained in these contracts, provisions for control of the contractor's operations by the owner, provisions for funding of the contractor's activities and warranties by the contractor that he is competent to perform the contracted service. As many contractors have made amendments to their contracts since Members were previously advised of the terms of contract required under the US Federal Regulations and there have been similar developments in other jurisdictions on VRPs, the following clarification is provided on the significance of conformity with the IG Guidelines. 1. Indemnity Provisions Confirmation from the Club that the wording of an indemnity provision in the contract conforms with the IG guidelines is an affirmative statement that the owner's liab